Transformers: Apprehensive Alliances
by D. Natali
Summary: Due to a Spacebridge malfunction, the Autobots are stranded on an alien planet. Can their new allies help them to escape, despite interference from the Decepticons and their new allies?
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Chapter 1: Arrival**

Optimus Prime awoke in a daze, as his formerly lifeless blue glass eyes flickered and lit up, emitting a soft glow, followed by the inevitable curiosity of where he was as he observed his surroundings. He saw trees, dirt, grass, and rocks. This was an open forest-like area, much like the ones he'd experienced on Earth. But unless his optics were damaged, the colors were wrong—the plant life, especially the grass, was bluish with only a hint of green here and there, while the soil looked like various shades of charcoal grey instead of brown, as were the trunks of trees. All this below a lavender sky. This wasn't a sunset changing the colors of the atmosphere where one might see lavender among other colors—it was the middle of the afternoon and the sky was completely lavender, pale lavender near the horizon which gradually became a darker shade, almost purple, as it reached upward.

As if to confirm his suspicions, a large chrome-plated dragonfly whizzed past his head, and he realized that this couldn't be Earth, unless he had damaged more than his optics.

Acknowledging his stiff joints with a slight grunt, he slowly rose to his feet and stretched as he waited for his memory banks to access the events that had caused him to be in this strange place.

_The Space Bridge_.

There had been a battle at Cybertron's end of the Space Bridge, a "short cut" between Earth and Cybertron created by Decepticon technology as a means to conveniently transport energon cubes to the Transformers' home planet of Cybertron from their temporary base on Earth. Energon cubes were made from Earth's energy, stolen and condensed to a transportable size. It was a race that had continued for thousands of years to see which side would restore their dying planet, and gain the upper hand in the war. Despite the Autobots' efforts to create an alliance with the people of Earth in hopes to gain their aide, the Deceptions were winning.

In this last battle, the Autobots had tried to intercept a particularly large shipment of energon by reaching the Decepticons' base on Cybertron before the shipment had arrived. A battle had ensued and quickly lost control.

Remembering the details of this battle once it had reached its climax was nearly impossible—it was mostly a flurry of clashing metal and laser fire—but there was one event that Prime remembered with almost perfect clarity, because he saw it as a turning point, almost before it had been fully played out. He was locked in a struggle with Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, and a flash of light at the corner of his eye made him look over Megatron's shoulder at the Decepticons' computer—it had been hit repeatedly by misfire, and it was beginning to buzz and send sparks everywhere, threatening to explode. He remembered seeing Shockwave moving away from the computer—apparently he was having similar thoughts as Prime—until an Autobot, Brawn, came charging at the Decepticon and yelling some kind of threat.

"Brawn! _No!_" Prime had yelled, as he shoved Megatron out of the way and made a dash toward the scene.

In his mind's eye, everything moved in slow motion, as Brawn plowed into Shockwave and slammed him into the Decepticons' computer, causing a blinding explosion that sent several Autobots and Decepticons into the Space Bridge.

Perhaps the computer's malfunction had caused the Space Bridge to send them somewhere other than Earth. "But where?" Prime wondered.

The first logical action would be to try to make contact with his fellow Autobots, so he took out his communicator and pushed the middle red button below the screen—the signal beacon—and waited for several minutes.

So far, no response.

He was beginning to wonder if the communicator had been damaged in the explosion, when it suddenly came to life as he heard the frantic voice of one of his comrades: "Bumblebee to Optimus Prime! Come in!"

"I read you, Bumblebee," Prime responded pleasantly. It was good to hear a familiar voice—unfortunately it was the voice of one of the other Autobots who was a victim of the Space Bridge malfunction instead of someone from the Autobot base. "Where are you?"

"Pretty close, actually", the small yellow Autobot responded, more calmly now. "I got your signal so I'm on my way." A short pause. "But, Prime … where are _we_?"

Prime observed his surroundings one last time before conceding to what he knew all along. "I honestly have no idea."

- - -

Bumblebee arrived, shortly followed by four more familiar faces: Ironhide, Brawn, Jazz, and Perceptor. Everyone who was by the Space Bridge during the explosion was present and accounted for.

Optimus Prime looked around at his men, and his eyes narrowed slightly as a subtle and brief indication of a hidden smile. "Well, it's good to see that you all made it out of there in one piece." He looked at Perceptor, "So, Perceptor, what have you observed?"

The Autobot scientist responded, "This is most peculiar. Every rock, every plant, and even the soil itself is infused with metal. I've found traces of Chromium, Electrum, and especially Niobium and Zinc, which would explain the bluish tint this foliage possesses. But, as far as I can tell, it's completely organic. Not only that, but if not for this planet's metallic properties, I would have thought we were on Earth." He sounded oddly enthusiastic, despite the circumstances, which was not unusual for him.

"This ain't gettin' us outta here any faster," Ironhide mumbled.

Prime folded his arms and looked thoughtful. "Since contacting headquarters seems impossible at the moment, our best bet is to explore the territory and find out what our hosts are like. Best case scenario, this is a peaceful planet that will at least lend us materials to build a shuttle."

"And the worst case?" Brawn said apprehensively.

Prime shook his head slowly. "Let's just hope we won't have to worry about that." He paused, and noticed some sparse footprints that became increasingly denser as they progressed, indicating that they were leading to a more high-traffic area, most likely out of the forest. The footprints themselves looked almost humanoid, but closer in size to Transformer feet. Prime nodded toward them, "We'll start by following those footprints."

The footprints led to more footprints, which led to a road of sorts.

"No paved roads?" Jazz remarked gloomily, "You gotta wonder how advanced these dudes are."

Bumblebee replied, "Well, it looks like they're advanced enough to have the same kind of shoes that humans wear. Look, there's no impression of toes or anything—the soles must be pretty solid. Maybe that means they have similar technology in other areas?" This would have sounded odd coming from almost any other Autobot, but Bumblebee was the closest to their human friends and had observed quite a lot about their culture and mannerisms during the Autobots' stay on Earth.

Perceptor joined in. "But notice that these feet aren't shaped quite like human feet. They're wider in the front and less pointed at the toe, and the heel area looks very narrow."

"Who cares about that?" Ironhide snapped, becoming increasingly annoyed at Perceptor's knack for useless observations. "What we wanna know is whether they have the technology to help get us home."

"Yeah," Brawn added, impatiently. "No paved roads means no vehicles. All the charity in the universe won't do us any good if these people don't even _have_ what we need in the first place."

"Don't be so certain," Perceptor responded, "This could simply be a rural area where vehicles aren't needed."

"Perceptor's right," Prime said, a little disheartened by the fact that most of the group was already thinking so negatively. "_Worrying_ about what is out there isn't constructive—let's find out what we're dealing with before we start fearing the worst."

The other Autobots muttered various responses of agreement before falling silent.

Secretly, Prime couldn't help but feel slightly hypocritical, as he simply couldn't stop worrying about the worst-case scenario himself. It was different when they landed on Earth—they had a huge space shuttle to use as a base, and Teletran 1 as a vast encyclopedia of everything that the satellite Sky Spy discovered. Not to mention that there were a lot more of them stranded on Earth. In this case, going home was really the least of their worries—what would they use for sustenance once they became low on power? And there was also shelter to consider, as even metal wouldn't be able to withstand the full force of the elements for too long of a period. But he did his best to push these thoughts away. As he had just told his men, it was the here and now that must be focused on.


	2. Chapter 2: Civilization

**Chapter 2: Civilization**

It wasn't the liveliest of towns, but it was definitely a town of some kind. Its perimeter was lined with a head-high wall made of dark marble that had become cracked and dirty from neglect, but even through the dirt, metallic threads could be seen running through the surface of the marble. It seemed that _everything_ in this place contained metal to some degree.

The small group of Autobots approached the wall and moved along until they came to an ornate iron gate where they peered between the bars. The main street that ran through the gate was lined with what appeared to be small shops and venders. There were beings of some sort that were operating these shops, but they were too far away to be seen easily.

Prime was about to attempt to open the gate and go inside when he suddenly heard a female voice behind him. "Turn around … slowly!" Prime slowly turned his head and saw a large gold spearhead in his peripheral vision. He turned to face the aggressor and was shocked at what he saw. She had a small, toned, humanoid body, but her legs were proportionately quite long and the waist of her hourglass-shaped torso was so small that he could reckoned he could probably easily encircle it with his hands. Positioned on her shoulders was a head that was angular, but unmistakably feline. What he at first thought was oddly colored skin was actually short and fine fur that was scarlet red in color. She had a small white muzzle with a tiny black nose and a pair of tall pointed black ears with a tuft of hair at the end of each one. She wore a bodysuit that was three shades of blue and a long cape that was constantly being disturbed by her long swishing tail. Matching the cape were a pair of large, angular light-blue eyes with little black slits for pupils that stared at him intensely. She was only about chest-high to him and not physically opposing in the slightest, save for the huge spear—which was really more of a harpoon, now that he had gotten a better look—but her glare could freeze water.

"Who do you think you are?" Ironhide said with a scoffing tone as he and Brawn aimed their guns.

Prime looked over at them as he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Lower your weapons." Then he looked back at the cat woman. "We come in peace."

The cat woman seemed to relax a bit as she took a few steps back and placed the butt end of the harpoon against the ground so that the weapon was vertical—in this position, the harpoon was as tall as her. Behind her was another cat woman who was dressed in an almost identical uniform, but in a reddish color scheme. She had blue fur that was thicker and longer, especially at her cheeks, and she was of a stockier build. She was also covered in black stripes. She had her own harpoon, which she held in a similar way.

The Autobots relaxed as well.

"So, who and—sorry to sound rude—_what_ are you? And what is your business here?" the first cat woman said in a stern, yet casual tone.

"I'm Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots", Prime said, as he gestured to himself and his men, respectively. "We come from a planet called Cybertron. As for why we're here … it'd take awhile to explain, but we're stranded and don't know where we are or how to get back home."

Minerva raised her eyebrows in surprise. "From another planet, eh? Well, I suppose anything is possible. I'm Minerva, and this is Cassandra," she said, gesturing toward the second cat woman who saluted in a casual way that was almost cute. Minerva paused for a long time, apparently contemplating how much she should reveal before continuing a bit slowly. "This planet is called Catotronia …"

Suddenly, a shriek was heard.

"_Cassie!"_ Minerva screamed when she whirled around and saw that a shadowy hooded masculine figure was holding a blade to Cassandra's throat. Minerva grasped her harpoon tighter and held it in a threatening manner, even though she knew there was nothing she could do, immediately.

"Damn you cats!" the man snarled. "You've spread over this world like a disease! Like plague-ridden rats!" He had managed to hide his body pretty well behind Cassandra's, despite the fact that she was quite a bit smaller, the only vital part of him sticking out was his head, his glowing eyes staring tauntingly. But in the time it would take Minerva to wind up to throw the harpoon, he could easily slit Cassandra's throat, and she was not yet ready to take that risk.

"It isn't _our_ fault that evolution gave you the shaft, you psycho!" Cassandra snarled as she struggled to free herself. She had dropped her own harpoon when the man surprised her, and was now clawing at his hands, awkwardly.

"Silence, filthy animal!" the man said. Even though his hand was shaking with rage, he steadied it enough to press it more firmly against Cassandra's throat. His level of adrenaline was so high, he didn't even react to the cat woman's claws digging into his hands. He was so obsessively focused on the cat women that he paid no heed to the group of Autobots and hadn't been watching any of their actions.

"Silence _yourself_, man!" Jazz said suddenly, as he aimed his gun and put a hole right through the attacker's head with a thin laser.

The man went limp and unceremoniously slid to the ground, dead.

Minerva stared at Jazz in shock for the briefest moment before running to Cassandra. "God, are you okay, Cassie?" She looked at Cassandra's neck and saw that there was, thankfully, no blood. Her thick fur was partially to thank for that.

"No, I'm … I'm fine," Cassandra said. After taking a few moments to compose herself, she ran over to Jazz and grabbed his hand between both of hers and shook it vigorously. "I don't know why you did that, but … thank you SO much!"

"Oh … you're welcome," Jazz said, feeling a little embarrassed, "I just hate the kinda coward who'd sneak up on a lady like that. No matter what you mighta done to tick the dude off."

Minerva sighed, irritated, as she went over to the man's corpse. "These idiots."

"What was _that_ all about?" Ironhide said, following her to the body to get a better look.

Minerva kneeled and pulled the hood off the man's head revealing a face that looked metallic and angular, like that of a Transformer, glass eyes and all. The rest of his body was humanoid in shape, but it was metal and even contained segmented joints like that of a robot, although his skin was scratched and bloody in a few areas implying that it was also living flesh. He wore simple, tattered, medieval-style clothing.

"Well, it's a very long story, but I'll try to be brief: apparently these people used to rule this planet, or that's what they say. Then there was … some kind of disaster—I dunno, I'm no scientist—and most of them disappeared. Most of the rest of them have migrated to the moon, but some stragglers were left behind. Poor bastards. Meanwhile, cats evolved into higher beings and we basically took over. Now, every once in awhile, we come across some desperate terrorist like Mr. Wonderful here who isn't afraid to just attack someone in the middle of the day because they don't care if they get killed in the process. Maybe they _want_ to. They hate the world and they blame it all on us." She made a faint scoffing sound. "But it's not like it's _our_ fault—you don't _choose_ evolution, it chooses _you_.

"Other people on their side have already blown up one of our larger cities and, as you can see, you resemble them slightly. That's why I didn't want to take any chances with your snooping around the walls of this city."

"I understand." Optimus said with a nod.

Minerva stood and looked at Prime for awhile. "Look … I can't promise _anything_, but … we owe you our lives, so I'm gonna do my best to see that you get some assistance. I really don't know how much we can help you, but I'll see to it that we'll do whatever we can."

Prime felt a considerable amount of weight being lifted off of his shoulders. This was far from a guarantee that they'd get back home, but Step 1 had been accomplished—they'd found an ally—so he allowed himself some relief for now. "Thank you. Your assistance is appreciated."

Minerva excused herself, walked away until she was out of earshot, and pulled out what looked like a small communicator from a pouch that was clipped to the side of her belt. She spoke into it, listened to the person on the other end, and repeated the process a few times before folding the communicator and placing it back into the pouch. Then she approached the Autobots again. "So, now that they're expecting us … how fast can you guys run?"

"Heh … actually, we'd rather roll." Bumblebee responded.

Minerva tilted her head. "What, you guys have wheels hidden somewhere?" She moved her head as if she was expecting to spot them somehow, if only she were to look hard enough.

"You could say that," Optimus Prime said, amused. Then: "Autobots … _transform!_" His arms folded behind his torso, his head sank into his shoulders, and his legs bent backward in a very unnatural way until he became a big red semi.

The rest of the Autobots followed suite: Bumblebee became a small yellow Volkswagen Bug, Ironhide became a red van, Brawn became a small brown Land Rover, and Jazz—who was more of a show-off and leapt into a handstand and transformed his back end first—became a black and white Porsche. The only one who didn't transform was Perceptor who, instead, hopped into Prime's trailer.

Minerva shook her head and blinked. "Well … _okay, then!_ Whatever works." She nodded once at Cassandra and they both morphed into four-legged cats. "Follow us, then!"

Perceptor had peeked out from the trailer and he saw this transformation take place, and he was amazed, not only by the strange nature of the transformation itself and its oddly organic and almost mystical nature, but by the fact that he could now recognize the breeds of cat. Cassandra was a bobcat, and Minerva was a lynx of some kind—species that he'd seen on Earth.


	3. Chapter 3: Headquarters

**Chapter 3: Headquarters**

The two cat women led the Autobots back through the forest until they came to the base of a cliff, which the cats simply climbed.

Prime commanded the Autobots to transform, which they did. "The cliff is too steep to drive up," he explained, "We'll hafta hoof it."

The Autobots groaned and started the daunting climb. The two cats were nearly halfway to the top by now.

Brawn, in a half-kidding way, glared at Jazz who was using a grapple. "Cheater."

"Hey, man, you know what they say—if ya got it, use it!" Jazz replied with a smirk.

Once they reached the top, they had come to the mouth of a cave.

"Oh yeah, this looks promising," Brawn muttered, once again annoyed by their apparent lack of technology.

After shifting back to her bipedal form, Minerva rolled her eyes. "Looks can be deceiving, you know!"

Brawn looked surprised, apparently not expecting her to hear what he said, but said nothing more.

The Autobots were led through a long and dark tunnel, then through a hidden door at the end.

Beyond the door was a large room, elaborately decorated with marble and metal, and the walls were lined with various framed pictures. A marble table stood in the middle of the room surrounded by many overstuffed and comfortable-looking chairs, and on the wall facing the door they entered was a fireplace. An impressive looking room, and a striking contrast from the plain dark cave.

"Our visitors have arrived!" Minerva announced as she let herself, Cassandra, and the Autobots into the room.

Three more cat women were seated around the table, and no sooner had Minerva opened the door than one had risen to her feet. Her fur was matte black with metallic gold spots in little clusters, forming rosettes. Her outfit was similar to Minerva and Cassandra's outfits, but hers was black with a violet-blue tint in some areas and highly reflective chrome in others that looked like mercury when she moved. Her uniform was decorated with green trim and a flowing greenish gold cape. "So I see. I'm Jessica, leader of the Cyborcats," she said, extending a hand toward the Autobot leader (she had taken a guess based on size and demeanor).

"I'm Optimus Prime," Prime responded, as he—almost without realizing it—grasped her tiny hand carefully as he shook it. She was taller than Minerva but not by much—the top of her head barely reached Prime's chin and she was almost as lightly built as Minerva.

Jessica laughed. "Don't worry! We're nowhere near as fragile as we probably look to you. You won't break it, I promise."

"Oh, of course!" Prime responded with a small chuckle at his own expense, as he tightened his grip.

She smiled faintly in a way that was rather charming. "It's alright, even the males of our _own_ race underestimate our strength."

"No kidding," one of the seated cat women muttered.

Jessica rolled her eyes slightly as if she half-expected the remark. "This is Sheba," she said, gesturing toward the very lean mostly white cat woman who was wearing a uniform that was yellow-orange and red-orange with metallic gold trim.

"Hey there." Sheba responded, her interest in the situation existent but minimal.

"And this is Eris." Jessica gestured toward the other cat woman who was dark green and covered with black spots that blended into almost-stripes in various areas. Her uniform was two shades of pink with yellow trim. She looked to be about Minerva's size and build, but her ears were much larger.

"People tend to call me LazerEyes, though." Eris replied with a shy smile, and then quickly added, "Oh, and, hello."

"Why is that?" Perceptor inquired. He actually had millions of questions forming in his inquisitive mind, but he knew better than to bombard everyone with them all at once.

"Eh, maybe I'll show you later."

Prime reclaimed the floor. "This is Perceptor, Jazz, Ironhide, Brawn, and Bumblebee," he said, gesturing to each one respectively.

Jessica nodded politely. "Well, it's nice to meet all of you, despite the circumstances." She paused for a moment, regretting what she had to say next. "Speaking of which … I'm afraid you might be here for awhile. We're willing to aide you as much as we can, as I'm sure that you could use the extra pairs of hands. Unfortunately, while our world is rich in metallic substances, we aren't mechanically advanced enough to have achieved space travel, and vehicles in general are scarce here."

"Then it looks like we're going to have to build a shuttle from scratch," Prime said, knowing just how daunting of a task it would be. The various groans and grumbles by the other Autobots that followed confirmed this. "Can you tell us where we are? Where this planet is, I mean?"

"Well, we're the third planet from the sun."

Prime scratched his head a little. _"Which_ sun?"

Jessica shrugged and looked over at LazerEyes.

"There's more than one?" the Cyborcat scientist said, sounding almost amused. Then, apologetically, "I don't know, I'm sorry."

"Well, all isn't lost," Perceptor said in his usual enthusiastic tone. "If you have a telescope, I can add some specialized modifications, and increase the power. It should be a simple matter to rearticulate some of the geometry, optimize the magnification factor, and boost the resolving power … perhaps boost the signal magnitude, as well ..."

"So, yer gonna tinker with a telescope." Ironhide said sarcastically.

"Well … yes," Perceptor responded, "and if I can do that, then perhaps I can figure out where we are."

"_Just_ what I wanted to hear," Prime said, feeling a little more positive.

"Tomorrow, we'll help you look for scrap metal, since it's already starting to get dark." Jessica responded, in keeping with Prime's enthusiasm. "Err … you _do_ sleep, right?"

"Technically, we shut down and recharge," Perceptor piped in again, "but 'sleep' is an adequate description."

"Well, in that case," Jessica said with a slight smile, "We have plenty of extra rooms for you to 'shut down and recharge' in. It's late, and I'm sure you could use the rest, as could we."

"Very true," Prime said with a nod. "It's been a long day, and I think we'll all function better in the morning." He said, turning toward the Autobots, then back to Jessica, "You're hospitality is greatly appreciated. All things considered, we're very lucky."

Jessica smiled, but rubbed her nose self-consciously, "Well, that remains to be seen." She motioned toward Minerva and Cassandra. "Kindly show them their rooms."

After Jessica wished everyone a good evening and there were a few brief "good nights", the Autobots were guided out of the room through a different door.

Once they were gone, Jessica turned toward Sheba and LazerEyes. "So what do you think?"

Sheba raised an eyebrow, skeptically. "I think you're putting us in over our heads."

"Well, I had to do _something_ for them. I couldn't just say 'Thanks for saving Cassandra's life!' and send them on their merry way."

"Besides," LazerEyes added, "Maybe we can learn from them—they're obviously more technologically advanced than we are."

"True enough, I guess," Sheba responded. "At least it won't be boring around here for awhile."


	4. Chapter 4: Bedtime Stories

**Chapter 4: Bedtime Stories**

Sitting alone in the room where they'd met the Autobots, Jessica contemplated … everything, it seemed. Had Sheba been right? Was this situation too much for the Cyborcats to handle? It was the middle of the night and she should have been sleeping, but she simply couldn't. The truth is, she had never left that room, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep—she hadn't even bothered to go to her room and lay down, she knew it was pointless.

So she had simply remained in her chair, long after Sheba and LazerEyes had gone to bed, satisfying their concern with a "Don't worry, I'll go to bed soon," which was a blatant lie.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of heavy footsteps. Her left ear—the one closest to the back door—pivoted toward the sound, until it stopped and was replaced by the sound of the door opening, then closing.

"I see I'm not the only one who is restless tonight," a velvety masculine voice remarked. It was Optimus Prime.

"Apparently not," Jessica said with a slight smile as she looked over her shoulder at him. For someone so physically imposing, he had a way of coming off as completely non-threatening when he wanted to, as Jessica was realizing. In fact, she was delighted to see him. "Hi, Optimus."

"I'm not bothering you, am I?" he asked.

"Oh, not at all. Actually, I could use the company," She said, and meant it.

"That's good," he said, sitting in one of the other chairs, across from her, "since I wouldn't know where else to go, and I didn't want to snoop." Despite the diminutive size of the female Catotronians, their chairs were just big enough for him.

Jessica sighed. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot to show you around."

"Quite alright," Prime responded. "We did show up out of nowhere. Besides, it can wait until tomorrow."

Jessica nodded.

"Actually, I'm glad you're here," Prime continued, "There's something I forgot to tell you, as well."

Jessica blinked. "Oh?"

"Yes," Prime said with a sigh. "I forgot to warn you about the Decepticons."

"Uh, what are they? Boogeymen or something?" She said with a sarcastic smirk.

"This is serious," Prime responded. His head was now lowered a bit so that his intense blue eyes were peering at her from beneath his visor, giving him a slightly scowling expression. He wasn't angry, he was merely expressing the gravity of the subject, but either way, he suddenly _was_ looking a bit intimidating.

Jessica shifted a bit, and waited for him to continue.

"They're other robots from Cybertron. I think some of them may have ended up here."

"From the way you say that, I gather they're your enemies. So what sets them apart from you guys? Physically, I mean."

Prime pointed to his left shoulder, which displayed a symbol that resembled a red, blocky stylized face, outlined in white. "You'll always know an Autobot by _this_ insignia. There are other differences that you'll probably notice, but this is the clincher."

Jessica nodded once. "Got it. So you're of the same … race, then, correct?"

Prime nodded. "You could say that."

Jessica cocked her head a little. "So, how did this war start, anyway?" Perhaps it was only that she was looking for a distraction from her troubles, but she was intrigued and wanted to hear more.

"Well," Prime said, "it's a rather long story."

Jessica chuckled a bit. "Hey, as long as _you_ don't mind … the only thing I should be doing is sleeping, and I won't be doing that any time soon, whether we have a long conversation, or not."

"Very well then," Prime paused for a moment while thinking of the best way to begin. "9 million years ago, Cybertron was a peaceful planet, until the Decepticons began invading various outposts and stealing fuel."

"So, that was when they first made themselves known?"

"Precisely," Prime responded. "The Decepticons started as a small group who created their own leader, Megatron. Once he began appearing, the Decepticon army continued to grow in number and strength. They became a force to be reckoned with. We fought back. The war raged for millions of years."

Jessica sat, fixated on the story.

"Eventually, the entire planet was drained of its energy, so we left Cybertron in search of a new power source—the Decepticons followed—and we ended up on a planet much like this one, called Earth. The Decepticons want to steal its resources to refuel Cybertron—if that happens, they'll gain the upper hand, so we're trying to _create_ resources with help from the people of Earth, as we keep the Decepticons in check."

"So you try to protect these Earth people from the Decepticons?" Jessica asked.

"Exactly," Prime responded, "It's _our_ war, not theirs. It's unfortunate that it's currently taking place on their planet."

"I can imagine," Jessica said with a nod. "So, how did you end up _here_? I assume there was no shuttle involved, otherwise you could use it to get back."

Prime explained the concept of the Space Bridge and energon cubes to Jessica, ending with the best explanation he could give for the malfunction. When her vibrant green eyes widened in amazement, he smiled from behind his faceplate and responded by saying, "It's not the first time something like this has happened. I could tell you things about the universe that'd make your head spin."

Jessica shook her head. "If anyone else tried to tell me some of the things you are, I'd think they were yanking my tail," she said with a smile. "But for some reason, I just don't doubt you."

Prime didn't quite know how to respond to that.

"Oh," she said, changing the subject, "and there's something … rather some_one_ I need to warn _you_ about."

"Well, considering that your headquarters is so well hidden," he responded, "I figured there must be someone you need to hide it _from_."

She nodded, gravely. "They're called Technocats."

"And what sets them apart from Cyborcats?"

"Well, Minerva told you about the Biomans, right? The race of that terrorist who attacked Cassandra."

"Oh," Prime recalled. "Yes, she did."

"Well, to make a long story short … Technocats are a group of Ornithocats, which are a hybrid of Catotronians, Biomans, and birds, therefore they resemble Biomans in that they each have a mane of hair—with Catotronians, that only occurs in male lions. And where Catotronians take only two forms, Ornithocats take three: bipedal, winged cat, and bird of prey."

"Ah, so they're triple-changers," Prime muttered.

Jessica nodded, having never heard the term, but finding it appropriate. "That works. Except for their leader, Diana—as far as we know, she can take _any_ form."

"How did this … crossbreeding take place?" Prime asked the question, but had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"No. A Bioman geneticist somehow infused himself with bird DNA and created a race of people called Ornithodroids. Then he crossed _that_ race with some Catotronians he'd captured, and created the Ornithocats. That terrorist does not represent their group, but they share the same viewpoint: that cats need to be put in their place, and Biomans—and now Ornithodroids—must rule again."

"Intriguing," Prime remarked, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, which was supported by his elbow, propped on the table.

Jessica sighed. "And unfortunately, that's not all. We're also in hiding from our own kind."

Prime's brow furrowed a bit. "Are you fugitives of some sort?"

"Not exactly. You see," she continued, "in our culture, women are expected to not only be married, but to submit to our husbands completely. We aren't allowed to question their authority, or even be recognized for our accomplishments. Do you have any idea what that kind of oppression is like?"

Prime was awestruck. "To be honest? No, I really don't. Not _personally_, anyway. It sounds like slavery to me."

Jessica nodded in approval. "That's exactly what it is, Prime." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Anyway … one of the cat women who was captured by those Biomans … her name was Juno, and she managed to escape somehow. She tried to tell people in high places about the experimentation that was taking place, and they shrugged her off as a lunatic. So she decided to take in cat women who wanted an escape from society and train them to be soldiers in preparation for whatever the enemy was planning."

"Very admirable," Prime remarked.

"Indeed," Jessica responded. "Unfortunately, society doesn't yet understand what we're trying to do, so … I guess we are considered fugitives since we aren't very well liked. But as long as we stay out of the public eye, we'll be okay."

Prime was silent for a while, mainly because he realized that since she began talking about Juno, Jessica's behavior changed slightly—she became more quiet and withdrawn. "Am I right to assume that … Juno is no longer here?"

Jessica nodded and scowled a bit. "She was killed by Diana."

Prime sensed that Juno was probably some kind of mentor for Jessica. And her death was probably the reason why Jessica was now leader. Although he didn't know anything about Catotronian biology, he guessed by Jessica's voice and mannerisms that she was probably quite young, especially to have so much responsibility suddenly heaped upon her. No wonder she had insomnia. He tentatively reached across the table to take her hand, in an attempt to comfort her, but he changed his mind at the last second, and patted her forearm in a gentle manner instead. The act was a little awkward, but was a legitimate display of compassion. "I'm sorry."

She cleared her throat, but smiled a little. "Thank you."

Another moment of silence before Jessica suddenly pinned her ears back and covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a yawn—although it wasn't much of a stifle, as it was a catlike yawn where it almost looked as if her whole head would turn inside out, the attempt to cover it was more a polite gesture than an attempt to actually suppress it. The effect was somewhere between comical and disturbing. "Well, I don't know about you, but I think I'm finally ready for bed."

"Good idea," Prime said as he stood, "we have a big day ahead of us."

"Good night," Jessica said as she stood as well and smiled. "It was nice talking to you."

"My pleasure," Prime replied. "Good night."

With that, they each went to their separate rooms.

Jessica slept better than she had in a long time.


	5. Chapter 5: Decepticons

**Chapter 5: Decepticons**

The small group of Decepticons had spent half the day wandering aimlessly around this strange planet after the spacebridge malfunction had teleported them there. Scavenger, the only Constructicon unfortunate enough to end up on the spacebridge during the accident, discovered a familiar metal behind a particular mountain, and this was now a point of interest for the Decepticons.

Night time was approaching, and this place that appeared to be an odd hybrid of Earth, their current planet of residence, and Cybertron, their home, was becoming increasingly foreboding, the sky having turned nearly purple. There was no moon, but plenty of stars to provide at least a small amount of light.

As the rest of the Decepticons looked over the mountain and discussed the best way to get at what was inside without harming it, Starscream flinched as he heard a sudden crunching sound, like someone behind him, and quite close, stepping on a small branch, snapping it in two. "What was that?" He couldn't hide the alarm in his voice as it was, but the natural screechiness of his voice somehow exaggerated the display of emotion. "There's something there!" he pointed at a crop of trees, the point where the sound must have come from

"You're imagining things!" Rumble said, dismissively. "If something was around, we would have heard it coming."

"_I know what I heard!"_ Starscream hissed back, annoyed. He shook his head, realizing that if anything was going to be done about this, _he_ would have to do it (and wasn't that always the way?). He crept toward the crop of trees and saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes peering back.

Was it another Transformer?

Whatever it was, he couldn't make out any details, and saw no more than a silhouette (and even that was vague), but he suddenly lost the former fright which had gripped him when he realized that the being was smaller than him, both in height and build. It shifted, soundlessly, probably readying itself incase he attacked.

He aimed one of the twin guns that were fixed to each of his arms at the dark shape, aiming between the eyes. _"Show yourself!"_

"Out of the way, fool!" Megatron grunted as he pushed past Starscream, nearly knocking him over. If this were a place they were familiar with, then intimidation may have been the right approach, but if they were to remain alive on this strange planet, they would need an ally—a liaison, as it were—especially if they were to go back to Earth in a reasonable amount of time. At the moment, making enemies wasn't the best idea.

With Starscream out of the way, Megatron faced the being. "I am Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons."

- - -

Megatron looked at the … creature he had been talking to that was apparently female—she remained in the shadows for the time being, surveying him with a pair of glowing yellow eyes, and he could identify her gender only by her voice—as he waited for her response to his offer.

On their way to discovering the mountain, they had passed a few cities—all were abandoned, but they recognized the remaining structures as being similar to those on Earth, some resembling modern architecture (by human standards), some ancient. Megatron had taken a wild guess that their technology was at a similar level as humans.

The Decepticon leader had turned on the charm, appearing disadvantaged, but not weak—let her realize that he required assistance, but also that he wasn't to be trifled with. He was careful with the way he worded his offer. He didn't use the words "technologically superior", instead he made reference to "recent technological developments" by Decepticons—it was close enough to the truth, anyway. He even managed to subtly compliment her ability to sneak up behind them so easily. Oh yes, he was a sly one.

The rest of the Decepticons sat quietly, observing the exchange, knowing that this was a delicate situation. Even Starscream had a certain respect for the process and didn't interfere—any concerns he had he would address Megatron with later.

"So you're able to … make these 'energon cubes'?" Her voice was low, but undeniably feminine.

"Out of _any_ form of energy," Megatron added, as one corner of his mouth turned up the tiniest little bit in a nearly hidden smirk. "And we will share that technology with you, _if_ you provide shelter and assist us with digging up what's beneath the side of that mountain." He pointed at said mountain, which would have looked like any other mountain to anyone who didn't have Scavenger on their team. Megatron wanted what was hidden there. Badly.

"Very well," the voice said, as its owner finally stepped out of the shadows and revealed herself. She was tall and thin, yet curvy, and clad in black vinyl. Her skin was a dark crimson red (although, had they been closer, they would have realized that it was actually very short fur), and pointed ears extended from a long thick mane of purplish-black hair that framed a feline face. A long slender tail swished back and forth behind her. She extended her hand, "I'm Diana, leader of the Technocats."

On the final word, as if on cue, three other catwomen stepped out of the shadows, each in a different spot—the Decepticons, who were now looking around uneasily, had been surrounded, probably for quite awhile, and had never realized it. Only Diana had made a noise, and it could have been intentional for all they knew.

When Megatron complimented Diana's craftiness, he didn't know the half of it. These people may be small, but they were devious. He admired that.

Megatron took her small hand in his and shook it, as they exchanged knowing smirks.


	6. Chapter 6: Assignments

**Chapter 6: Assignments**

The following morning, the Autobots were taken on a brief tour of the Cyborcats' base. It wasn't a massive structure, but it was obvious that it housed much more than five of these cat people. For a place that was predominantly inhabited by females, it was pretty sparsely decorated, putting that stereotype to rest. What made it interesting to look at was its structure, more specifically the materials used—mainly metal and marble (which contained metal, itself)—but aside from that, and the lack of computer technology, it wasn't too different from what they were used to. Their own base was located under an inactive volcano, after all.

They came to a room with a large monitor attached to a wall, slightly above eye-level, which made most of the Autobots think of Teletran-1, the giant computer in the Autobot base on Earth.

However useful a second Teletran-1 would be, Jazz had something else in mind. "A TV?" he asked, hopefully.

"Uhh, I'm not sure what that is," Jessica replied.

LazerEyes didn't know either, but responded anyway. "These screens are for informational purposes. Any time something important happens somewhere, and there's someone there to cover it, it's broadcast to these monitors to keep us aware of what's going on."

"Aww, man," Jazz muttered. Not that he'd had a chance to be bored, but being the entertainment junkie he was, he had hoped that there would be some form of mindless entertainment at his disposal, just in case. Then he noticing the confused silence from the cat people. "Uhh, Earth has something like that, only there are hundreds of different channels, and each one has something different showing on it. There is a channel like what you have, though. It's called CNN."

Jessica blinked a few times. _"Hundreds?_ How much news could they possibly need?"

"That's just it," Jazz explained, "Most of the channels are for entertainment purposes, and just about everybody has at least one TV—err, they call 'em television sets, 'TVs' for short."

Sheba looked skeptical. "So, instead of going to see a play or a fight, they just … sit at home and watch that TV thing?"

"Pretty much," Jazz replied, then added, "_Damn_, I miss that place."

This was met with varying reactions from his "audience"—some groaned or rolled their eyes, only a few responded with some variation of laughter, and Prime just shook his head, having seen the comment coming a mile away. Tough crowd.

They moved on, but as they were leaving what would be known as the "TV Room" (to Jazz, at least, and not without a sense of irony), Jessica, in response to Sheba's reaction, shrugged and said, "I think it sounds nice—entertainment at home."

"A little _too_ 'nice', if you ask me," Sheba quipped. "That kind of convenience just leads to laziness, after awhile."

"I suppose."

Next, they were shown a laboratory where several catwomen did various tasks. Some looked into devices that were very similar to microscopes, and likely served the same purpose. Others entered information into what looked like glorified personal computers. They all wore white lab coats, as humans would, but these were more fitted about the waist and elegant, looking more like long, simple, business-like dresses.

"This is where we'll put together your 'super telescope', Perceptor," LazerEyes said, leading him through an open sliding glass door on the left wall to a balcony where telescopes, big and small, had been set up. "And that's where you might want to set it up—you can use parts from any of these, if it'll help."

"I'll try that," Perceptor responded, while already looking through one of the bigger ones. Not that he could see much in the sky during the day, but he couldn't resist a peek anyway, if only to attempt to gauge how powerful the magnification was.

"And I'll try to help, of course," she added, attempting to kill time until he finished. "This isn't really my area of expertise, but if you tell me what to do, I'm sure I could … help. Y'know, _when_ we do that. _Later!_"

Perceptor finally snapped out of his diverted state. "Ah, sorry," he said, looking slightly self-conscious as he followed her back inside.

"That's alright," she answered with a laugh. _He must be dying to do something science-related_, she thought, _Poor guy._

The rest of the tour was mainly uneventful, and they ended up back in the room where they all originally met, by the fireplace. Very early in the morning, before meeting with everyone else, Jessica had met with Optimus Prime and they discussed the ideas she had—now it was time to let everyone else in on it.

"We want you to split into groups, venture out, and see what you can find," Prime explained. "Bumblebee and Brawn, you'll go into the city."

"You won't be as conspicuous as the rest," Jessica added. I'll have Cyndi go with you. You shouldn't run into any trouble, as long as you keep to yourselves." She gestured to the tiny, feline standing next to her—whether girl or small woman, they weren't sure.

Cyndi was mostly white with some interesting markings. Thick purple stripes went over her eyes, wrapped around the sides of her head at the bottom, and met between her ears at the top, and the space outside of them at the sides of her head was filled with lavender, decorated with thin black stripes. One ear was purple and lavender, while the other was purple and white. Her large vibrant eyes were turquoise and matched her uniform, which was the same color scheme as that of the other Cyborcats. Her headpiece was small and wrapped around her forehead and ears, almost like a simplified tiara. A long purple tail, ringed with black, swished back and forth behind her. The way she stood closely to Jessica, and the way Jessica had a constant protective hand on her shoulder suggested that she was at least somewhat younger than the rest—perhaps an adolescent. She smiled pleasantly as she made her way to where Bumblebee and Brawn were standing.

"Oh great," Brawn muttered, "I get to be babysitter."

The comment was either unheard, or ignored by everyone but Bumblebee who gave him a subtle kick.

"Jazz and Ironhide," Prime continued, "I want you to go out and see if you can find any Decepticons, and if you do, try to make sure they don't cause any problems—I suggest starting in the area where we arrived. We want to interfere with this world's inhabitants as little as possible, and we don't want Decepticons starting trouble here, either."

Jazz smiled and gave a thumbs-up gesture.

"Yee-haw! Time for some action!" Ironhide said, enthusiastically.

Prime quickly spoke up again: "But _only_ fight if you have to. We don't need to be drawing attention to ourselves."

Ironhide nodded, slightly deflated. He knew Prime had a point, so there was no point in arguing, no matter how badly he was itching for some combat.

"Sheba, Minerva, and Cassandra, go with them," Jessica added, hiding her amusement at the Prime/Ironhide exchange. "You're some of our best fighters, and you know your way around."

As the three catwomen went over to Ironhide and Jazz, Sheba leaned over to Ironhide and muttered, "I feel your pain."

Ironhide couldn't decide if she was being empathetic or mocking—the tone of her voice didn't especially imply either—but he gave her benefit of the doubt.

The only two left were Perceptor and LazerEyes. "So, what's _our_ exciting task?" LazerEyes asked, already standing next to Perceptor.

"We want you two to look for resources," Jessica responded, "and I know of just the place …"

- - -

"We're staying here," Prime announced, referring to himself and Jessica, "since you're all going in different directions, and we're basically in the middle. If there's an emergency, just contact us and we'll be there."

And with that, the leaders wished everyone luck, and they were off.


End file.
